CEO Talks Candidly About Layoffs: ‘It Sucks Emotionally’

If you’ve ever been downsized, unfortunately you’ve been on the receiving end of the pink slip.

But what about the people who have to do make the difficult decision to downsize their company?

As per a piece on Inc.com, Cheezburger founder and CEO Ben Huh dished candidly about his most difficult week ever by reducing his company by one-third of its staff.

Per the piece, he recalled:

“We knew we needed to scale back–same destination, smaller boat….The morning of the layoffs, the executives informed their teams as a group and then met with each person individually to discuss retention or severance. It was very tense….

Twenty-four people were let go, bringing our head count to 42. It was the most difficult week I’ve ever experienced. Often, when faced with a problem, you want to run in the other direction. It’s like seeing a lion in the jungle. But I have to do what is best for the company, even if it sucks emotionally.”